To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

KK. Chapter 29: Negro Labor

Page 1

[CHAPTER 29]
[Page 1]
NEGRO LABOR
When the Civil War began in 1861, the majority of Negroes in the State continued to work as laborers on the cotton and sugar plantations. Many others, however, were taken to other states to labor on fortifications, or to perform various tasks about the camps of Confederate armies. Some followed their masters as personal servants or domestics. Others, taken to the front by orders of the Confederacy, were made to labor upon fortifications, breastworks, and in hospitals, or work in the capacities of teamsters, hostlers, mechanics, scouts, messengers, and miners.
It was as agricultural laborers that the slaves rendered their most valuable services. Often with little or no white supervision they produced the largest part of the crops of corn, rice, beans, potatoes, peanuts, green vegetables, and other foodstuffs highly necessary to the sustenance of the Confederate armies. In addition to this, they also labored in the salt mines, swamps, and forests to supply the necessary salt, lumber, and other commodities. A Negro, working on the estate of John Marsh Avery, in May, 1862, accidentally discovered the largest deposits of natural salt in the world--the famed Avery Island salt mines--at a time when that commodity was selling for as much as fifteen dollars a barrel, and the destiny of the South itself seemed to hang upon its lack or plenty.1
The unwillingness of slave labor, however, to perform its customary amount of work manifested itself before the war had been waged a year. Although many slaves

African Americans -- Employment -- History. Discrimination in employment -- United States -- History.

Description

The unpublished manuscript "The Negro in Louisiana" is a work begun by the Dillard (University) Project in 1942, an arm of the WPA's Federal Writer's Project. After the dissolution of the unit, Marcus Christian maintained and edited the document in hopes of eventual publication. It is reproduced here as an annotated transcript, with original typos, chapters, and paginations preserved.

[CHAPTER 29]
[Page 1]
NEGRO LABOR
When the Civil War began in 1861, the majority of Negroes in the State continued to work as laborers on the cotton and sugar plantations. Many others, however, were taken to other states to labor on fortifications, or to perform various tasks about the camps of Confederate armies. Some followed their masters as personal servants or domestics. Others, taken to the front by orders of the Confederacy, were made to labor upon fortifications, breastworks, and in hospitals, or work in the capacities of teamsters, hostlers, mechanics, scouts, messengers, and miners.
It was as agricultural laborers that the slaves rendered their most valuable services. Often with little or no white supervision they produced the largest part of the crops of corn, rice, beans, potatoes, peanuts, green vegetables, and other foodstuffs highly necessary to the sustenance of the Confederate armies. In addition to this, they also labored in the salt mines, swamps, and forests to supply the necessary salt, lumber, and other commodities. A Negro, working on the estate of John Marsh Avery, in May, 1862, accidentally discovered the largest deposits of natural salt in the world--the famed Avery Island salt mines--at a time when that commodity was selling for as much as fifteen dollars a barrel, and the destiny of the South itself seemed to hang upon its lack or plenty.1
The unwillingness of slave labor, however, to perform its customary amount of work manifested itself before the war had been waged a year. Although many slaves